If you have expired or unused prescription medication in your home, now is your chance to safely dispose of it

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will set up disposal stations across the state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26. The service is free and anonymous.

Soaring rates of abuse of prescription medications are the main reason for the annual event. Most abused prescription medications are obtained from family and friends, and some are taken from home medicine cabinets. Make your home a safer place and take this chance to rid it of these potentially lethal medications.

“America has a drug problem,” said Steve Manning, the Injury Prevention program manager in the Division of Public Health at the Department of Health and Welfare. “Every 19 minutes a person dies from a drug overdose and many of these are from prescription medications. Disposal of unwanted, unused and expired medications helps to reduce drug abuse and is something we can all do.”

One hundred and five people die every day in the United States as a result of a drug overdose. Nearly 7,000 people are treated in emergency departments for abusing or misusing medications. In Idaho in 2012, 68 people died as a result of prescription medication overdose.

It’s not safe to flush unused prescription medications because they contaminate streams and groundwater. To learn of a DEA disposal location near you, go to: